Brad Ramsey | Principles & Practices

by Jingjing Shen

Address: 400 South Record Street,

Dallas, Texas 75202-4841

Phone: 214-977-6606

Fax: 214-977-6603

Official Website: www.belo.com

Overview:

With its values of Integrity, Excellence, Fairness, Sense of purpose and Inclusiveness, Belo Corp. is a multimedia company whose headquarters are located in Dallas, Texas. As one of the most respected and largest television groups in the nation, Belo’s television division owns 20 television stations that include but are not limited to affiliation with FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC and CW Network. Its main markets reach not only audiences from Dallas and Houston in Texas, but also the fast-growing Seattle market in the Northwest and Phoenix market in the Southwest. The Belo stations, which rank either first or second in practically all 15 markets where its business takes place, are capable of reaching more than 14 percent of U.S. television households in 15 highly-attractive markets. Under the leadership of President Dunia A. Shive and Peter L. Diaz, Vice President Carey P. Hendrickson and Guy H. Kerr, the 2,300 employees of the company achieved $650 millions in annual revenue in the year of 2011. Looking at the numbers of 2012, it is not hard to see a tendency for further growth.

Dunia A. Shive President and Chief Executive Officer; Guy H. Kerr Executive Vice President; Carey P. Hendrickson Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; Peter L. Diaz President/Media Operations [1]

For more about Belo Corporation and its television division please click here [2].

Brief History:

The footprint of Belo Corp. can be traced back to 1842 when The Daily News had its introduction in Galveston, Texas. In 1981, Belo’s stock officially entered the market and two years later it was on the list of the New York Stock Exchange. On October 1, 2007, the separation of Belo’s newspaper and television businesses was announced by stripping off its newspaper business to the shareholders as the A. H. Belo Corporation, the same name as the original company when it was first founded. The transaction was officially completed in February 2008, and the television business thus became a legal successor of the prior company. It keeps the name “Belo Corp.”

One of the earliest The Daily News newspapers in 1842

For more about Belo Corporation’s history please click here [3].

Financial:

In the third quarter of 2012, Belo’s net earnings per share was $0.24, which almost doubled the number $0.13 of the third quarter in 2011. (The third quarter of 2011 included a credit of $0.02 per share because of the satisfactory resolution of a tax matter.)

http://quotes.wsj.com/BLC/interactive-chart

Belo’s Stock Overview of the Third and Fourth Quarter of 2012 by Wall Street Journal [4]

Station programming, including the operation expense, decreased $1.3 million, which is two percent compared to the third quarter of 2011. This was mainly due to the reduced syndication programming costs. In the same quarter, Belo’s Station adjusted EBITDA grew almost 50 percent compared to the same time period of 2011 and still had a margin of 40 percent compared to the third quarter of 2011.

In this quarter, Belo earned $17.7 million in political revenue and $13.4 million in Olympics revenue, both of which were significantly higher than the revenue recorded in the third quarter of 2008. Revenue from advertising, retransmission fees, barter, network compensation etc. increased nine percent in the third quarter of 2012 compared to the same time in 2011. This is mainly due to the double-digit increase in both Internet and retransmission revenue. In this quarter, the company generated the total revenue of $176 million, 16 percent higher than the third quarter of 2011.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, the Board of Directors declared a particular cash dividend of $0.25 per share for each share of the Series A common stock and Series B common stock that would be paid on December 21, 2012, to the recorded share holders on November 20, 2012. Also, funded primarily by the company’s available cash, Belo announced that 6.75 percent of its Senior Notes, which the principal amount would be $175.9 million, would be redeemed on November 30 of this year, due May 2013.

For more details about Belo’s cash dividend please click and listen to Belo at Deutsche Bank Leveraged Finance Conference [5] on October 10, 2012.

For the fourth quarter, Belo expected the political revenue to finish in the margin of $29 million to $30 million, which would result in $58 million to $59 million of political revenue for all of 2012.

For more about Belo Corporation financial report please click here [6].

Employees

Primarily due to the increasing annual merit, the employee benefits, wages and station salaries of employees as well as the higher commissions of Belo Corp. raised as high as 4 percent, in other words $2.3 million during the third quarter of 2012 [7].

Stations & Audiences

Belo television station group includes affiliations with ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW and MyNetwork TV, which reaches more than 14 percent of U.S. television households in 15 highly-attractive markets.

Belo’s Twenty TV Stations in Four Major Market Region [8]

For more about Belo’s Television Group please click here[9].

Latest News:

It’s Your Time Logo from 13-WVEC Website

08/09/12
Belo announced its election coverage plans, stating that the company’s news-producing stations would televise at least one hour of political coverage each week in the six weeks prior to the general election on November 6. The 2012 election coverage might include issue- and ad-watch programming, debates, and interviews with candidates from the local, state and federal level. A special spot named “It’s Your Time” which candidates can use to announce why they should be elected on Belo’s multicast channels was offered to them for free. 159 congressional and gubernatorial candidates participated in this program[10].

To watch all It’s Your Time vedios online, please click here [11].

09/11/12

KGW NewsChannel 8 was named Television Station of the Year by the Oregon Association of Broadcasters at its annual conference on September 7, 2012. For nine of the last ten years, the station had beaten its competitors and kept the title. KGW NewsChannel 8 also earned nine “Awards of Excellence”, and defeated all the other Portland television stations[12].

09/18/12

Linda Danna, President and General Manager of WHAS-TV[13]

Belo Corp. announced on the 18^thof September, 2012 that Linda Danna had been named president and general manager of WHAS-TV, Belo’s ABC-affiliated station in Louisville, Kentucky. She would be in her new position on October 15, 2012. Danna recently served as vice president and general manager of KGPE-TV in Fresno, California. During her previous career, Danna had been an outstanding leader who was keenly aware of the media landscape and its emerging opportunities[14].

9/20/12

One this day, Belo’s Dallas-Fort Worth television station broadcasted a debate featuring U.S. Senate candidates, in which Republican candidate, former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, and Democrat and former State Representative Paul Sadler squared off in a live broadcast. WFAA, Belo’s ABC-affiliated station in Dallas, Taxes, would carry the debate live along with Belo Corp. Belo’s subsidiary station KENS in San Antonio would broadcast the debate on a delayed basis[15].

10/03/12

The award was accepted by Eric Valadez, a WFAA producer, and Art MacLaren, WFAA’s chief director of the 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. newscasts [16].

Belo Corp. Television Station WFAA-TV, the ABC-affiliated station in Dallas was honored with a National News & Documentary Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences on this day in New York.
A Day of Weather, WFAA’s winning piece, continuously covered a heavy storm that inundated Dallas in September 2010 [17].

10/15/12

Belo Names Brad Ramsey President of General Manager of WVEC-TV[18]

On this day, Belo announced that Brad Ramsey had been named president and general manager of WVEC-TV, Belo’s ABC-affiliated station in Hampton/Norfolk, Virginia. He would start his new role beginning November 5, 2012.
Since July 2008, Ramsey has served as vice president and General Manager of WCAV-TV (CBS), WAHU-TV (FOX), and WVAW-TV (ABC), all in Charlottesville, Virginia. His experience in the Virginia marketplace would be a significant asset to WVEC[19].

11/15/12

Lone Star Chapter of the National Television Academy[20]

On this day, Belo’s WFAA took home 21 awards of excellence presented by the Lone Star Chapter of the National Television Academy. This Belo’s Dallas-Fort Worth station was honored in various news categories including sports and weather, team coverage, breaking news, as well as in categories for technical achievement and local programming, topping all the other stations in the same market[21].

11/27/12

The Nielsen survey result which took place from October 25 to November 21 proved that KGW NewsChannel 8’s leadership position in news continued. KGW NewsChannel 8 has the highest viewership of both local and national news programs by a wide range of audience in both rating and share averages in the entire 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. block as measured by Nielsen station estimates live and same day viewing [22].

Outlook

Looking to the fourth quarter, Dunia A. Shive, Belo’s President and Chief Executive Officer, indicated that the November 30 redemption of the 6.75 percent Senior Notes due May 2013 was expected to result in an after-tax charge of approximately $2.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. This would be an after-tax savings in interest expense of approximately $3.1 million in the first five months of 2013. On November 30, Belo’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend for the first quarter of 2013 of $0.08 for each share of Series A common stock and Series B common stock to be paid on March 1, 2013, to shareholders of record on February 8, 2013[23].

Sources:

[1] Belo Corp. Management Team http://www.belo.com/about/management

[2] Belo Corp. About Page http://www.belo.com/about/overview

[3] Belo Corp. Timeline http://www.belo.com/about/history

[4] Belo Corp. Wall Street Journal Stock Chart http://quotes.wsj.com/BLC/interactive-chart

[5] Belo at Deutsche Bank Leveraged Finance Conference http://earningscast.com/BLC/20121010

[6] Belo Corporation financial report http://www.belo.com/invest/reports

[7]Belo Corp. 3rd Quarter 2012 Earning Release http://images.bimedia.net/documents/09302012_Full_release.pdf

[8][9] Belo Corporation Television Group http://www.belo.com/companies/tv-group

[10] It’s Your Time – Belo Program Offers Candidates Free Airtime http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/159-congressional-gubernatorial-candidates-participate-in-belo-program-that-offers-candidates-free-airtime-75215682.html

[11] 13 WVEC It’s Your Time videos http://www.wvec.com/video?sec=553947&ref=articlevidmod

[12] KGW Newschannel 8 Named Station of The Year by OAB